The latest face of L’oreal’s men’s skincare line, L’Oreal Paris Men Expert, is scruffy grumpy Hugh Laurie of House. Hugh will represent the line overseas, like Gerard Butler and Patrick Dempsey before him. Now, I can see Dempsey and maybe Butler representing men’s skincare, but this just seems beneath Laurie. I’m trying to separate him from his character on House, for whom this role as spokesperson would be laughable. From what I know of British Laurie he’s quite down-to-earth and not at all Hollywood. But I guess that makes him the perfect score for a skincare line. Here’s more, from The Daily Mail:

And today Hugh Laurie is cast in an unlikely new role, as the male face for L’Oreal Paris Men Expert products.

There’s also this video of Hugh in which he kind of makes fun of his new gig. I just love hearing him speak in his regular accent. I still find Hugh as a skincare spokeman puzzling but the guy might feel more secure with a few more million in the bank now that House is possibly winding down. That’s probably the motivating factor behind this. He used to talk about how he was afraid he would lose his gig on House, and now that it’s possibly looming after the next and eighth season it could have convinced him that this wasn’t a bad idea.

Puzzling, this one. I agree that representing men’s skincare is TOTALLY beneath multi-talented Hugh Laurie, and I don’t think for a sec that he actually needs the money, as he made MILLIONS with House. So why did he do it? Actually, I believe him- he was just flattered to be asked and saw it as a nice opportunity to make fun of glossy men’s skincare ads, like he does in this commercial (‘That’s an interesting question- am I worth it? I hope I am.’ LOL)
I don’t know, maybe I love Laurie too much, for me he can do no wrong.

I actually kind of like it. Don’t know if he will appeal to men (the demographic) to buy their products but I do like that they got somone who is older and isn’t another generic pretty boy with no talent, no skills or no brain function outside of what he is ordering at Starbucks.

The man did the Stuart Little films – he did those films for the paycheck. Why not this? A couple of days work, big chunk of cash in his bank account. And it gets him some attention outside of the House role. As the show is ending soon, he probably wants to do some different things to try and break the typecast of House. Because getting work after playing that role for so long may not be easy.

I hate the choice: he seems obnoxious to me, looks much older than he really is, and I doubt he takes any care of his skin, or his looks. Even my father, a smoker of 71 who moisturizes, looks far better than Hugh Laurie!

There are so many other “real men” that aren´t specially gorgeous that could have been chosen. I bet L´Oréal Men´s sales will drop downhill!

D’ya think maybe he’ll end up with Ellen? Oh wait, that’s CoverGirl and she’s gay, forget that lol.
Edit—
other comments posted that I did not see and Karin has me laughing, really, your 71 yo smoker father is hotter than Hugh Laurie? I believe you, but I guess you should tell your dad, bc that’s a compliment!

I’m really loosing my patience with people who are all “even my whoever who is 100 year old looks better!” Well, we all happy for you and your whoever but normal people do age as they get older, not everyone goes plastic or is lucky with genes. It seems anyone who doesn’t look 25 no matter their real age is bashed as old and haggard nowadays.

HL looks his 50+, not particulary youthfull, sure, but not worse than one would expect.

HAHAHAHA. This is awesome. I’m glad they’re taking an amusing approach to it rather than trying to convince us that Hugh Laurie (whom I adore as House) is going to be primping all the time. That bit about being Gerard Butler before the make-up is applied is freaking AWEsome.

I’ve been using the Clarins-Men skin care line for seven years now, and love it. Many, many straight guys use male skin care products, but there’s still a stigma attached to that, which, in 2011, is pretty ridiculous. Many guys won’t admit to using the stuff, so the companies feel they have to get these macho dudes to promote it – pretty insulting to the intelligence, in my opinion.

Hugh Laurie was obviously selected by L’oreal to target both the straight, macho male AND their wives and/or girlfriends (who will buy the line for their mates) but his skin looks pretty sketchy to me, and the make-up and photoshopping of his face doesn’t fool me. Truth is, many guys couldn’t give a Jack’s ass who is promoting the stuff – they just buy what they buy (same goes for gay guys, too).

I wish a skin care line would have the integrity and the balls to promote a good, healthy diet (no white sugar, aspartame, starch, bad carbs, etc.) plus no suntanning in CONJUNCTION with their ads. It doesn’t matter what you’re slathering on your skin if your fueling your body with toxic poisons – sooner or later they will manifest on your skin’s surface.

Ladies, tell your guys to try Clarins-Men; I find it to be the very best, and I’m a fussy skin care kind of guy!

I like Hugh a lot, though I think it’s an odd but interesting choice. Interesting to see them look beyond just the typical model choices – now lets see them do that for women, and then I’ll be really impressed. (I know that probably won’t ever happen.)

LOVE him, like I love Mandy Patinkin, same kind of guy.
Don’t believe either of them care a whit about skin care, nor does any man really, but these companies can dare to dream.
A little soap in the shower, good to go!

L’Oreal has obviously done research to find out they need an older man to sell their products to older men. Dempsey & Butler have done well for the younger/middle range. There isn’t anything this company does by chance. Look at the range of women – someone to appeal to all markets, all ages and all nationalities. Laurie must have got a hefty paycheck – good on him.

ND(18)
Agree.If a company choses a normal guy we’ll notice he looks “old”. If he doesn’t we speculate he’s “done” something and looks “ridiculous”. It’s a no-win situation. Besides I think he will appeal to men who buy their own cosmetics AND to women who buy for their men.

It’s a skincare line, presumably, and no doubt intended for older men to help undo sun damage of years past. There is such a thing as age alleviation in skincare, not just age prevention.

I think it’s a great choice — will definitely appeal to women buying for their men, as well as be non-threatening and humorous to men.

I love hearing his natural voice and accent, too. If he’d been allowed to keep it, I might have watched House. Love the snarky expression in the ad, too, acknowledging the unexpected choice. (Btw, Gerard Butler’s grimy nighttime antics would preclude him as a spokesmodel choice, I think.)